I LOVE everyone's weddings. I always have been a wedding day dreamer type of girl

@Catloverd, I wish I could have convinced my fiance to do a HarryPotter theme, but that's definitely not his style haha.

I'm getting married in July in Hawaii (its where I am from and where we live). We are having the ceremony on a lawn in front of the beach. The reception is is in a big tent on the lawn. We have lots of bright jewel tone colors and moroccan style lanterns as part of the centerpieces. Bridesmaids will be wearing purple dresses. My dress is a little puffy and flowy with layers. I hired a wedding planner, which was pricey, but soooo worth it. I am not the most organized person so things would have fallen apart by now if I didn't have her.

Also, I have been debating whether or not I should hire a videographer. After seeing that some of you have regretted not having one, I think we will go for it. I probably won't remember all the details because of all the running around so I think it will be a good investment.

haha, well he was okay with it because at first it was going to be just the color scheme, but then I kept finding cute things to make it appear more like HarryPotter (like I named all the tables after places in HarryPotter, made paper owls as place cards, wands as favors, etc...) and since he wasn't really willing to help at all, he gave in. Ended up being an awesome day.

Also, make sure you completely LOVE your photographer. I love my wedding pictures, but I honestly feel like she has put more work into the other weddings that she has done compared to mine. She wasn’t willing to do any of the unique shots that you see on Pinterest and didn’t suggest anything like that to me at all. She also didn’t inform me that my pictures were ready and up on the website for me to choose from until my time had expired and I had to pay her more to just LOOK at them.

I totally agree with this. The photographer is not only interacting with you, but also relatives, friends, etc. If he/she is snooty or rude, no matter how great the photos are, you'll still remember how it was awkward, some relative got offended, etc. On the flip side, a good photographer makes everyone feel at ease. I knew I loved our photographer within 5 minutes of meeting him; we met at a Starbucks and I dribbled iced tea all over myself, but he didn't make me feel stupid or awkward. All of our family commented that they had fun with our photographer team, which meant a lot to me. It was their idea to take photos of me walking along the river. My husband was freaking out worrying that I would fall in and he'd have to save me!

It's important also to know what you WANT from a photographer. We are no-nonsense kind of people and were on a short time frame, so we didn't want to be pressured into engagement photos. We also wanted a photographer who would give us the rights to all the photos rather than us having to choose some. Our photographers didn't do any printing or photo books; they just gave us the digital copies so we could do whatever we wanted, but some people don't like that.

@Maggiefromcanada, we got married at the Courtyard Restaurant, and took pictures in the atrium of the Bank of Canada bldg. I have a couple with Parliament in the background, but they weren't taken from as nice a vantage point as yours!

Ooooh, I've been to a wedding at the Courtyard and it was lovely, not to mention the amazing food! We took a gamble because it was October in Ottawa, but we really wanted to show off the Parliament for our out-of-town guests. We lucked out and it was 15 degrees and clear on our wedding day, so we got the perfect view and didn't freeze our bums off in the process!

Everyone's photos and stories are so beautiful, I love it!! Thanks for sharing, everyone!

What we have decided on, well they came together very organically and on their own, but still:

Photography: One of my friends is a wedding photographer! How lucky am I? And my dad is brill at this as well, so he'll do a lot of the portraits.

Band: This came together without my knowledge. My best friend is a harpist/violin player, my cousin plays guitar and sings in a folk band, another of my friends plays drums in a heavy metal band and another of our friends plays the lute. So they have been communicating cross-continent and are apparently rehearsing via skype. It's a motley crew, but I think they'll do well. I have told them what songs we want.

Food: My father, my cousin and one of my friends are all either chefs or very very good home-chefs. They are going to cook the days before the wedding. What they'll be making we still don't know.

The Wedding Cake: My mother and my aunt are handling this. They're both fantastic bakers. But don't know what kind of cake I want...

I know this might make me sound like an idiot, but I had no idea one chose specific colours for a wedding. I doubt I'll do it, but it does sound neat! I love the idea of carrying Rosalind with me, I don't know which friend I'd leave her with as my best friend who's been most around her is a harpist and is going to play during the ceremony. And I'm not scared things will go wrong, I have a little baby things will not be a white fairytale. As for it being the best most important day of my life... I've already lived that day. I hope my wedding will simply be relaxed, romantic and fun.

I am also a total social media novice, but I've become strangely addicted to pinterest. It's like an online scrapbook! It's a very neat and clever way to see what you really like. I will post a link when I am done going completely bananas on there, so you can see what I'm thinking.

Everyone's photos and stories are so beautiful, I love it!! Thanks for sharing, everyone!

What we have decided on, well they came together very organically and on their own, but still:

Photography: One of my friends is a wedding photographer! How lucky am I? And my dad is brill at this as well, so he'll do a lot of the portraits.

Band: This came together without my knowledge. My best friend is a harpist/violin player, my cousin plays guitar and sings in a folk band, another of my friends plays drums in a heavy metal band and another of our friends plays the lute. So they have been communicating cross-continent and are apparently rehearsing via skype. It's a motley crew, but I think they'll do well. I have told them what songs we want.

Food: My father, my cousin and one of my friends are all either chefs or very very good home-chefs. They are going to cook the days before the wedding. What they'll be making we still don't know.

The Wedding Cake: My mother and my aunt are handling this. They're both fantastic bakers. But don't know what kind of cake I want...

I know this might make me sound like an idiot, but I had no idea one chose specific colours for a wedding. I doubt I'll do it, but it does sound neat! I love the idea of carrying Rosalind with me, I don't know which friend I'd leave her with as my best friend who's been most around her is a harpist and is going to play during the ceremony. And I'm not scared things will go wrong, I have a little baby things will not be a white fairytale. As for it being the best most important day of my life... I've already lived that day. I hope my wedding will simply be relaxed, romantic and fun.

I am also a total social media novice, but I've become strangely addicted to pinterest. It's like an online scrapbook! It's a very neat and clever way to see what you really like. I will post a link when I am done going completely bananas on there, so you can see what I'm thinking.

Sounds like fun!

The reason people tend to choose a color scheme is so that everything matches (flowers, bridesmaid dresses, decorations, etc...) and doesn't appear "sloppy" unless that's the look you want? I had 8 colors in my wedding, it was crazy, but awesome. Most usually pick between 2-3 colors. My cousin did yellow and purple.

Everyone's weddings all look so lovely! Mine's still going to be a couple of years off yet, we're not even engaged, but I've been a dreamer about all this sort of stuff for years. I don't think it helps that every time I get the bus, I have to pick it up from outside a wedding dress shop, so when I'm waiting around I gaze at dresses.

One thing I have decided on is that I want both my sisters as my bridesmaids, and that's it. I haven't got a best friend as such, more a close group, so to pick from those would be tough and I couldn't have all of them, it would be too much. OH hasn't got any sisters or female cousins either so I'd have no bridesmaids coming from that side, and there'd be liikely no child bridesmaids or pageboys either as we have nobody in either of our families in any current position to be having children in the next few years (either from being too young or not in a relationship). I don't know what colour scheme I'd have; I'd likely have a white/ivory dress and my sisters can battle it out to find a dress which suits them both in terms of style and colour, which is easier said than done. I'd probably base my colour scheme around that.

As for location, that's one thing I really don't know. His family and my family live a couple of hours' drive at least apart, and my extended family a couple of hours on top of that from my family. I've always thought I'd like a church wedding, but as for a reception I really don't know. My mum's cousin did a hotel reception and some people stayed the night, which was a good idea for those coming from a distance or who wanted to drink more than the limit. I remember being very few children there though, there was only me and my sisters and my (then) three second cousins, and everyone else either left children at home or didn't have any.